New Omni Video of Scarlatti Sonatas on Guitar

Ana Maria Iordache playing Domenico Scarlatti’s K. 27 sonata in B minor

This morning the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts released its latest video of a solo guitar performance. The guitarist was Ana Maria Iordache, who was born in Bucharest and has established herself as a leading Romanian classical guitarist. The video consisted of performances of two of the many keyboard sonatas composed by Domenico Scarlatti: K. 198 in E minor followed by K. 27 in B minor.

Like most of Scarlatti’s keyboard works, these were single movement compositions structured in what is known as binary form. This amounts to a sort of “call and response” structure, where both the “call” and the “response” are repeated. For the most part the sonatas are two-voice compositions. However, the reverberations of the guitar strings often facilitate the listener appreciating the implicit chord progressions behind the counterpoint. (Those progressions emerge in the original keyboard versions just as readily.)

In my own feeble efforts at the keyboard, I could deploy the harpsichord “source” on my Yamaha Clavinova. This allowed me to work my way through a collection of the sonatas compiled by Marthe Morhange Motchane under the title The Graded Scarlatti. The journey was an enjoyable one as my fingers gradually accustomed themselves to the diverse fabrics of these relatively brief compositions. In that context I could appreciate Iordache’s clear account of the counterpoint that provided both heart and soul of her two selections.

I definitely would not mind her venturing further into the Scarlatti repertoire.

Hovhaness Organ Music on Toccata Classics

Photograph of Alan Hovhaness on the cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

This Friday will see the release of a Toccata Classics album of the complete works for solo organ by Alan Hovhaness (TOCC 0763). He was born in Massachusetts and was living in the Bay Area when I made my move to Cambridge to begin my undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I was aware of his name but knew little about his music. During the time I served as announcer for the twentieth-century music program at the campus radio station, I do not think I ever played any of his music; and, since that time, I have no salient recollection of any of his works. I probably knew more about his Armenian heritage than I knew about his music!

The notes on the back cover of the album suggest that his music sounds “like an eastern cousin of Vaughan Williams.” I am far more familiar with Vaughan Williams than I am with Hovhaness; so I would assert that, where his organ music is concerned, any resemblance would be at most accidental. To be fair, however, Vaughan Williams’ organ repertoire is very modest; and I do not think I have had an opportunity to listen to any of it (with the possible exception of hymn settings)!

For the most part Hovhaness’ organ music is secular. The only exceptions are the Opus 62b “Prayer of St Gregory,” composed in 1946, and the 1995 Opus 434 “Habakkuk,” named after the eighth of the so-called “Twelve Minor Prophets” found in the Old Testament. Most of the repertoire consists of three sonatas (the last having only a single movement), a three-movement sonatina, and an eight-movement partita given the title Sanahin, which is named after an Armenian monastery. Nevertheless, the note on the back cover reflects a sacred bias in its final sentence: “The organ is an ideal medium for his musical language, allowing it to range from timeless, questioning prayer to gloriously full-bodied statements that stir the soul.” (Mind you, any organ performance that unleashes a generous number of ranks of pipes is likely to “stir the soul!”)

Attacca Quartet will Have its Own SFP Series

Attacca Quartet members Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Andrew Yee, and Nathan Schram (photograph by David Goddard, courtesy of SFP)

Some readers may recall that the Attacca Quartet played a major role in last year’s PIVOT Festival presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP). In the coming season, the members of the quartet, violinists Amy Schroeder and Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram on viola, and cellist Andrew Yee, will curate a three-concert series of their own, given the title Contemporary Chamber. Each of the three programs will have at least one contemporary offering; but there will also be “forward-looking” selections by two of the composers from the Classical period, Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Only the first of these programs will be devoted entirely to quartet music; and the guests artists for the other two will both be vocalists (who will probably be familiar to regular followers of SFP programs).

All three of the recitals will be weekend performances, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 7 p.m. on Sunday. The venue for the first two programs will be Herbst Theatre, on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The final performance will take place on the top floor of that same venue in the Taube Atrium Theatre. The summary of the programs is as follows:

Saturday, October 11, 7:30 p.m.: This program will be framed by two composers both associated with the string quartet genre. It will begin with Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken III:48 quartet in F major, the fifth of the six quartets in his Opus 50 “Prussian” collection. This will be complemented at the conclusion with a performance of Béla Bartók’s fourth string quartet, regarded by many as the most adventurous of the composer’s six quartets. Between these “bookends” the ensemble will perform their own arrangement of David Lang’s “Daisy.”

Friday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.: The first vocalist to perform with the quartet will be Theo Bleckmann. The program will be devoted entirely to the West Coast premiere of “note to a friend,” settings of three Japanese texts by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (best known for the narrative for the film Rashomon). The performance will be a monodrama that (in the words on the event page) “addresses eternal human fascinations with death, love, family, and suicide.”

Sunday, April  12, 7 p.m.: The final program will see the return of vocalist Caroline Shaw, who will also be performing on violin. The program will begin with three of her compositions, followed by the opening movement of Benkei’s Standing Death by Paul Wiancko. Schram will then present his quartet arrangement of the Radiohead song “2 + 2 = 5.” The remainder of the program will then “retreat” to more familiar repertoire. The first movement of Maurice Ravel’s only string quartet will be followed by a performance Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 131 quartet in C-sharp minor in its entirety.

Subscriptions are now on sale for $120 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $100 for the center rear of the Dress Circle and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $80 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through an SFP Web page. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. When single tickets go on sale, they may be purchased by visiting the specific event pages. The above dates provide hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages.

The SFP 2025–2026 Piano Series

The 46th Season Gala of San Francisco Performances (SFP), which will begin with cocktails at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 10, will be held in conjunction with the first of the four recitals to be presented in the Piano Series. As a result, that first recital will begin half an hour earlier than usual at 7 p.m. Two of the remaining recitals will begin at 7:30 p.m. on a Friday evening, with one recital at 7:30 p.m. on a Thursday evening. As usual, all of the recitals will be held in Herbst Theatre, on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The summary of dates and performers is as follows:

Friday, October 10, 7 p.m.: Pianist and composer Gabriel Kahane will give a duo performance with his son Jeffrey, also a pianist. They will perform the two-piano arrangement of Gabriel’s concerto for piano, given the title “Heirloom.” The remainder of the program will be devoted to additional works for two pianos.

Friday, October 17, 7:30 p.m.: Conrad Tao last visited Herbst In December of 2022 as part of the SFP debut of the Junction Trio. The other members of that trio were violinist Stefan Jackiw and Jay Campbell on cello. Prior to that performance, all three of them had established their careers as solo recitalists. Tao will return as a soloist, having prepared a program to explore popular music that drew upon compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Composers inspired by Rachmaninoff include Billy Strayhorn, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, and Stephen Sondheim.

Thursday, March 12, 7:30 p.m.: French pianist Lise de la Salle gave her last SFP recital in April of 2023. For her return she has prepared a program divided roughly equally between Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. The first half of her program will offer the first and last of Chopin’s four ballade compositions, Opus 23 in G minor and Opus 52 in F minor. The second half of the program will begin with Liszt’s only sonata, a single uninterrupted movement in the key of B minor, S. 178. This will be followed by the “Cantique d’amour,” the last of the ten pieces in the S. 173 Harmonies poétiques et religieuses  collection. She will then conclude with the S. 418 “Réminiscences de Don Juan,” drawing upon thematic material from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 527 opera Don Giovanni.

Pianist Richard Goode (from the event page for his next SFP recital)

Friday, April 10, 7:30 p.m.: As was the case in the 2021–2022 season, Richard Goode will be the final recitalist in the Piano Series. (That occasion was significant enough to be included as the May entry in my “Month-by-Month Memories of 2022” list.) His program for that occasion had Ludwig van Beethoven at one end and Béla Bartók at the other. His program for next year has not yet been finalized.

Subscriptions are now on sale for $300 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $260 for the center rear of the Dress Circle and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $220 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through an SFP Web page. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. When single tickets go on sale, they may be purchased by visiting the specific event pages. The above dates provide hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages.

Yang Honors Satie with Guitar Arrangements

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page) 

Thanks to the Dynamite Guitars series, I have taken a great interest in guitarist Xuefei Yang. Her last visit took place this past February at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, following up on her visit in March of 2023, when she performed selections from her Guitar Favorites album. This past Friday saw the release of her latest album, Chapeau Satie; and, as might be guessed from the title, it consists entirely of arrangements of compositions by Erik Satie.

Most of Satie’s music was composed for solo piano. Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Francis Poulenc were all influenced by his efforts, while his earliest champion in the United States was probably John Cage. Ironically, my most recent encounter with his music in performance had nothing to do with keyboard instruments. Rather, it took place during lutenist Thomas Dunford’s recital at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church this past March, when he included arrangements of selections from both the Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes series.

This coming Tuesday, July 1, will mark the centennial of Satie’s death. Yang recorded Chapeau Satie to honor that occasion. The album offers a rich diversity of not only Satie’s piano works but also a generous serving of his art songs. The vocalist for those selections is soprano Héloise Werner. There are also arrangements of the three Gymnopédies compositions for guitar and flute, transcribed jointly by Yang and flutist Sharon Bezaly.

Ironically, if my archives are correct, I have not encountered a solo piano performance of Satie’s music since Hélène Grimaud’s visit to Davies Symphony Hall in January of 2022. Mind you, all of my “academic” encounters with Satie (graduate and well as undergraduate) involved professors whose opinions ran the gamut from perplexed to dismissive. If Satie’s ghost hovered over any of those classrooms, I suspect that he would have responded to that treatment with a sly grin.

One might almost suggest that Satie was more concerned with being French than with being acknowledged as a composer. Ironically, when I think about his personality, I am reminded of one of my favorite passages from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself.
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Yang’s approaches to Satie seem to acknowledge those “multitudes” while finding a way to present them without overwhelming the attentive listener.

Peter Garland: From Vibraphone to Pipe Organ

According to my archives, I have not written about the music of Peter Garland for over two years. My last encounter was a solo vibraphone performance by William Winant of a nine-movement suite entitled The Basketweave Elegies. On that occasion, I cited Garland’s music as having been described as “radical consonance.” That concept reminds me of my student days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, when I enjoyed many enthusiastic discussions with a graduate student in music at Boston University. I remember that, in the middle of an intense argument over serial techniques, she burst out, “You want to know what the music of the future will be? It’s triads!”

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

There is no shortage of triads in Garland’s music. Nevertheless, he knows how to deploy them in imaginatively engaging progressions. His latest album is a seven-movement composition for pipe organ whose full title is “Plain Songs: ‘Love Comes Quietly’: (after Robert Creeley).” Creeley’s influence is revealed not only in the program note on the CD sleeve by Garland but also by the poem itself:    

Love comes quietly,
finally drops
about me, on me,
in the old ways.
 
What did I know
thinking myself
able to go
alone all the way.

Three of the movements have been given titles. Two of those titles reflect the stillness of the composer’s “radical consonance:” the fifth (“The Maze of Longing”) and the last (“Stone, / like stillness”). The third, on the other hand, is a set of variations on a medieval planctus (plaint). The source is “Planctus de obitu Karoli” (lament on the death of Charlemagne). Ironically, this is the shortest track on the album; and I must confess that I have yet to sort out the theme from the variations!

In that context it would be fair to say that the composer is more focused on mood than on structure. Creeley’s poem seems to reflect the emergence of revelation. It would thus probably be fair to say that Garland had composed music for meditation, leaving the nature of the meditation itself entirely up to the listener. From a personal point of view, I have to confess that I have never been particularly good at meditation. Nevertheless, I had little trouble focusing my attention on each of the seven movements of “Plain Songs.”

Sunset Music and Arts: August, 2025

Mezzo Nicole Takesono and guitarist Sharon Wayne (from the Eventbrite Web page for their Sunset recital)

Having recently accounted for the only performance to be presented by Sunset Music and Arts next month, I am afraid that the month of August will also be limited to only one offering. This will be a vocal recital by mezzo Nicole Takesono accompanied by guitarist Sharon Wayne. The title of the program is Places We Want To Visit; and it will provide a “tour” of five geographical locations, four in Europe and one in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Only the first two selections will involve composers. The first will be a set of Norwegian songs by Halfdan Kjerful. This will be followed by Maurice Ravel’s Cinq mélodies populaires grecques (five Greek folk songs). The remainder of the program will be devoted to traditional songs in three different languages: Ladino, Portuguese, and Hawaiian.

This concert will performed next month at 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 2. There will be no charge for admission, and free tickets may be reserved through an Eventbrite Web page. For those not familiar with this concert series, it takes place at the Incarnation Episcopal Church, which is located in the Sunset at 1750 29th Avenue.

Pride Weekend Begins with a Night at the Opera

Sapphira Crystál (emcee for this season’s Pride Concert, photograph by Joe Mac Creative)

Last night the 55th annual Pride Celebration got under way with the seasonal Pride Concert in the War Memorial Opera House. The program was hosted by Sapphira Crystál, who, appropriately enough, was a classically trained opera singer with a six-octave vocal range. She introduced performances by three vocalists, all of whom had performed in San Francisco Opera (SFO) productions: mezzos Jamie Barton and Nikola Printz and baritone Brian Mulligan. Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone shared conducting duties with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, which filled the entire stage, giving SFO opera-goers a chance to see them outside their usual orchestra pit. On audience side the walls were awash with elaborate video projections conceived and directed by Tal Rosner.

Those projections set the tone for the evening by providing eye candy for the evening’s overture, the one composed by Leonard Bernstein for his musical Candide. This was followed by selections from operas associated with the venue. Camille Saint-Saëns received the most attention with two excerpts from Samson et Dalila. Barton sang the seduction aria “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” (my heart opens to the sound of your voice), followed by the “Bacchanale,” familiar to anyone of my generation that used to watch Saturday morning cartoon shows. Sitting in the Center Box, composer Jake Heggie got to enjoy Printz’ solid interpretation of “Vesuvio, il mio unico amico” from his opera Great Scott. Mulligan’s operatic solo was taken from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera Pique Dame (queen of spades), an aria sung by Yeletsky in the first scene of the second act. Barton was also the only vocalist to offer art song, Reynaldo Hahn’s “À Chloris.”

The remainder of the program provided a diverse assortment of jazz, pop, and musicals. That included giving the vocalists a break with a spirited account by the Orchestra of Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train.” All three of the vocalists were perfectly comfortable with departing from the operatic repertoire, and each of them had their own ways of settling into pop rhetorics. The result was a program that delivered something for everyone; and each listener in the audience could relish the qualities of at least one (if not more) of the selections. The overall flow of all that diversity was more than skillfully managed by Crystál’s introductions.

Pride Weekend 2025 definitely got off to a good start.

Other Minds Announces Latitudes 23

Poster design for the event being discussed

This morning I received my first announcement for the latest installment in the Other Minds Latitudes series. The title of the program will be (intentionally capitalized) LAND AND SEA: SOUND AND VISION. This year there will be three solo performances and one interdisciplinary collaboration. The soloists will be as follows:

1. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is a multi-instrumentalist who works with voice in the realm of spontaneous music often under the moniker of Lichens. He usually accompanies his vocal work with patch pieces of his own invention for modular synthesizer. His goal is to lose himself in sound while being acutely self-aware.
2. Joel St. Julien works with both acoustic and electronic elements, approaching his technique as both art and spiritual practice.
3. Robert Laird Barber performs as The Urxed to create a complex and multifaceted sound world.

The collaborative performance will be by the Peaces duo of Zekarias Musele Thompson and Joshua Wismans. They work with processed acoustics, resonance, electronics, video, and installation to explore the act and possibilities of sound creation as a unifying space. They are currently based in Oakland.

The performance will take place on Saturday, July 12 at the Minnesota Street Project. This is located in Dogpatch at 1201 Minnesota Street, just west of the Third Street trolley stop and between 23rd Street and 24th Street. (The venue will be “steps away from the 2025 SF Art Book Fair.”) Admission will be by donation with a suggested amount of $20. Tickets may be purchased through an Eventbrite Web page.

A New Trio Album from Fred Hersch

Fred Hersch at his keyboard (photograph by Roberto Cifarelli, courtesy of ECM Records)

Some readers may recall that 2019 ended with a major release of recordings of jazz pianist Fred Hersch. This was a Palmetto Records box set entitled The Fred Hersch Trio: 10 Years / 6 Discs. Since that time, I have done my best to keep up with his albums, which included his move to the ECM label. Today, that label celebrated his return to trio jazz with the release of The Surrounding Green. This is an album of seven tracks of Hersch performing only with Drew Gress on bass and drummer Joey Baron.

What struck me about this release was that only three of the tracks were Hersch originals: “Plainsong,” “The Surrounding Green,” and “Anticipation.” Mind you, there are also tracks of some of Hersch’s favorite composers, including George Gershwin (“Embraceable You”) and Egberto Gismonti (“Palhaço”). On the other hand, there are two composers that I have not previous encountered on Hersch albums. One is Charlie Haden (who is also an ECM artist). The other is Ornette Coleman, although I may have heard a Coleman selection when Hersch led a trio performance in Herbst Theatre for San Francisco Performance in February of 2015.

That selection is “Law Years,” and it dates back to Coleman’s Science Fiction album, whose eight tracks were recorded by Columbia in the fall of 1971. It was originally recorded as a quintet with a more raucous rhetoric delivered by trumpeter Bobby Bradford and Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone. Hersch, on the other hand, was more interested in the driving rhythm, keeping his dynamics significantly more understated. Those familiar with past Hersch albums probably know that this is the way he prefers to roll, but his preference for understatement continues to reveal any number of adventurous twists and turns for the attentive listener.

The Overlooked Side of Lalo Schifrin

I was more than a little saddened to read Aidin Vaziri’s obituary for composer Lalo Schifrin, which showed up in my Inbox this morning in the daily Morning Fix article from the San Francisco Chronicle. Vaziri provided a generous account of Schifrin’s achievements in Hollywood, citing his “fusion of jazz, Latin rhythms and experimental time signatures.” Sadly, there was no mention of any of the “music for its own sake” albums that he released.

The most interesting of these could not have been more remote from Tinsel Town. A little less than four years ago, I wrote a “think piece” about what I felt was Schifrin’s most interesting (if not provocative) effort. This was the 1966 release of his studio album The Dissection and Reconstruction of Music From the Past as Performed by the Inmates of Lalo Schifrin’s Demented Ensemble as a Tribute to the Memory of the Marquis de Sade. This was released not long after the Royal Shakespeare Company took The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade to Broadway, inspiring Schifrin to produce an album as a “response” to the “call” of the German playwright Peter Weiss.

from the Amazon.com Web page

I am not sure how successful this album was where marketing was concerned. However, Schifrin seems to have enjoyed the undertaking, because he was able to release a “follow-up” album, Return of the Marquis de Sade. Both of these albums fall into the category of “serious fun;” and I must confess that I was more than a little disappointed that Vaziri overlooked such a memorable aspect of the composer’s talents!

Sunset Music and Arts: July, 2025

Once again, Sunset Music and Arts seems to have passed me by without any announcements of this month’s performances. (To be more specific, the accounts of the concerts on June 14 and 17 showed up in my Inbox around 3 AM on June 24!) As of this writing, there will be only one performance taking place next month.

Matt Mangels and piano (from the event page for his recital)

This will be a solo performance by Matt Mangels. He is both a pianist and a singer, as well as a songwriter. His genres are widely diverse, including pop/rock, jazz, country, show-tunes, and soul. His improvisations reflect the influences of pianists such as Chick Corea and Bruce Hornsby. His repertoire includes original songs as well as both covers and parodies of the above genres.

This concert will performed next month at 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 19. General admission will be $25 with a $20 rate for seniors and students. They may be purchased online through an Eventbrite Web page. Admission at the door will be $30. For those not familiar with this concert series, it takes place at the Incarnation Episcopal Church, which is located in the Sunset at 1750 29th Avenue.

Brian Byrnes’ Next Annual Visit to Cadillac

Brendan Byrnes with his guitars (from the Bandcamp Web page for his Chroma album)

According to my archives, the Brian Byrnes Band makes annual visits to the Cadillac Hotel during the month of July. Some readers may recall that Byrnes is a vocalist, one of the best harmonica players in the Bay Area, and (as if that were not enough) a guitarist. Once again, his combo will be distinguished by having a cellist (Joe Hébert) instead of a bass player. This time, however, Byrnes will be one of two vocalists, the other being Susie Movsessian. Lee Bloom will return as pianist, and the remaining member of the Band will be Brian’s son Brendan on guitar.

This performance will begin at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 18. As always, the performance will be free, and everyone is welcome. The venue is the Cadillac Hotel, which has an official San Francisco Landmark. It is located in the Tenderloin at 380 Eddy Street, on the northeast corner of Leavenworth Street.

Estonian Performance of Estonian Composer

This past Friday ECM New Series released its latest album of works by the Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. I have not followed this composer assiduously. However, during my tenure with Examiner.com, I wrote about two ECM albums devoted to his work, which were released in the last decade. The earlier of these, released at the beginning of 2011, was the album Strata, coupling his sixth symphony (also entitled “Strata”) with a concerto for clarinet, violin, and orchestra given the title “Noēsis.” My second encounter took place in the spring of 2014 with the release of another concerto-symphony album. This one began with the piano concerto completed in 2006 followed by the seventh symphony from 2009. Once again, the symphony was given a title, this time “Pietas.”

Cover of the album being discussed, from its Amazon.com Web page

Also once again, the new album was released with a title, Aeris. This is also the title given to the most recent work on the album, the composer’s tenth symphony, completed in 2021. This work was distinguished for having been composed for a quartet of horns and full orchestra. It was preceded and followed by two earlier works for full orchestra. The first was the more recent, “Phantasma,” composed in 2018; and the album concluded with “De Profundis,” composed in 2013. The horns were performed by the quartet German Hornsound, and Olari Elys (to whom “De Profundis” was dedicated) conducted the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Sadly, I have not had an opportunity to listen to this composer’s music in performance, my most recent missed chance having been in February of last year, when violinist Leila Josefowicz played his “Conversio” for her San Francisco Performances recital.

Those that enjoyed either or both of the past releases are likely to feel the same about the new one. For my part, however, while I can continue to appreciate the composer’s craft, I have to confess that in any “blind test” experiment, I doubt that I would be able to distinguish one symphony from another! That said, I would be more than happy to listen to any of them in a performance setting (which would probably reveal even more subtleties in the composer’s craft than a recording could); but the Web site for the San Francisco Symphony seems to have no record of his music being performed!

Michael Dease’s Double Album of Trio and Quintet

Cover of the album being discussed (from the Amazon.com Web page)

My first encounter with trombonist Michael Dease took place in August of last year, when I wrote about Grove’s Groove, a tribute album on Le Coq Records for the late Roy Hargrove, whose instruments were trumpet and flugelhorn. For his latest release he moved over to Origin Records for a two-CD set entitled City Life. The first CD is a trio album with Linda May Han Oh on bass and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. “Movie Theme” adds the voice of Dease’s daughter Brooklyn Dease, and it includes a second track for an alternate take. The second CD presents a quintet, which includes Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone, pianist Geoffrey Keezer, and Watts again on drum. Oh again plays bass on all but two of the tracks, on which the bassist in Jared Beckstead-Craan.

Grove’s Groove included two standards by Vincent Youmans’ and Jay Livingston, respectively, both given vocals by Jocelyn Gould. City Life, on the other hand, involves a diversity of composers, past and present, all of whom are accounted for in the accompanying booklet. Dease seems to believe that the attentive listener should search for the necessary information, rather than having it spoon-fed on the album jacket! On the other hand, he may simply feel that “just listening” is all that matters, reflecting one of my favorite quotations from T. S. Eliot:

Oh, do not ask “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.

There is more than enough imaginative improvisatory work in Dease’s solo work to make the visit a satisfying one.

Chez Hanny to Begin Next Month with Trio Gig

Dan Seamans, Smith Dobson, and Aaron Bennett, possibly with Frank Hanny between Seamans and Dobson (from the Chez Hanny Web page for the performance coming next month)

A little over a year ago, Frank Hanny’s house concerts of jazz performances, known as Jazz Chez Hanny, hosted a performance by the Aaron Bennett Trio. Saxophonist Bennett performed with Dan Seamans on bass and Smith Dobson on drums. The trio will return to Hanny’s house on the first Sunday of next month (July 6). For those unfamiliar with these events, there are some basic “ground rules” for attendees as follows:

Admission remains $25 payable through cash or check. There is also a Zelle option of transferring the $25 to jazz@chezhanny.com. Donations will also be accepted, which are tax-deductible.

The events usually consist of two sets separated by a potluck break. As a result, all who plan to attend should bring food and/or drink to share. Seating is first come, first served; and, as a result, reservations are strongly recommended. Reservations are placed through electronic mail to jazz@ChezHanny.com with a Subject line mentioning “jazz,” “Chez Hanny,” or “concert” to avoid being mistaken for spam. Mail messages received after noon on the day of a performance are unlikely to be seen until after the show is over, and cancellations should be given at least 24 hours advance notice. Those attending should be vaccinated but are accepted on the honor system, and masks are optional. Finally, volunteer efforts for cleaning up after the show and moving furniture to accommodate both players and listeners are always appreciated.

The “house” for this house concert is located at 1300 Silver Avenue. This is best reached by public transportation by taking the Muni 44 bus going east from Glen Park Station. For those thinking of driving, parking tends to be available on Silver Avenue, Silliman Street, one block south of Silver, and Holyoke Street, which connects Silver and Silliman.

New Omni Video Inspired by Greek Mythology

This morning the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts released its latest OMNI on-Location video. Some readers may recall that the last release, which took place a little over a month ago, presented a song by Sergio Assad entitled “Fieto o mar” (like the sea), which he dedicated to the Greek guitarist Dimitris Soukaras. Today’s release features another Greek guitarist, Sotiris Athanasiou.

Screen shot from the newly released YouTube video of guitarist Sotiris Athanasiou playing “Athena and Ares”

The performance is a short one, not much longer than two minutes. The title of the selection is “Athena and Ares,” a reflection on Greek mythology composed by Benoit Mussard. Mussard is, himself, a guitarist; and this is far from the only work of his to have been inspired by the ancient Greek pantheon. Nevertheless, the music itself has a decidedly contemporary style that reminded me of much of the music I had encountered when I stopped off in Greece to the way back to Israel, where I was teaching computer science at the Technion in Haifa. (I was in the United States to deliver a paper entitled “Music Theory—A Programming Linguistic Approach” at the annual conference of the Association for Computing Machinery.)

What stuck me most about Athanasiou’s composition was the way in which it required percussive effects, as well as the more familiar finger-work, from the guitarist. Whether the composer had decided to depict Ares through those effects in contrast to the more lyrical passages for Athena is left for the individual listener to decide! Athanasiou had clearly conceived a composition of contrasts, and he delivered those contrasts with engaging clarity. With any luck, I shall have an opportunity to experience more of Mussard’s Greek explorations.

The Bleeding Edge: 6/23/2025

Center for New Music poster for Fire at the Plantation House

This continues to be a busy month on the Bleeding Edge. Once again, there are only two events that have already been reported:

1. The final performance of the month at The Lab by the Moons quartet on Friday, June 27, at 8:30 p.m.
2. Fire at the Plantation House at the Center for New Music on Saturday, June 28, at 7:30 p.m.

The remaining events involve a more diverse assortment of venues as follows:

Tuesday, June 24, 6 p.m., Shuggie’s: The venue is a restaurant in the Mission that is so sure of itself that neither its home page nor the Info Web page provides an address. Fortunately, the BayImproviser Calendar is more accommodating. The music will be a duo provided by Bleeding Edge performers Kasey Knudsen on saxophone and vocalist Lorin Benedict. The address is 3349 23rd Street.

Thursday, June 26, and Sunday, June 29, 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Black Cat Jazz Supper Club: Pianist Jovino Santo Neto will give six performances of Brazilian jazz. The breadth of his repertoire takes in samba, choro, baião, and forró. The club is located at 400 Eddy Street on the northwest corner of Leavenworth Street.

Friday, June 27, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: As usual reed player David Boyce will host his semi-regular Friday evening series entitled Other Dimensions in Sound. This week’s performance will be a solo performance by bass-baritone Sidney Chen (who is probably better known by many for his choral work). The venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Saturday, June 28, 3 p.m., San Francisco Public Library, Golden Gate Valley Branch: Boyce will shift over to giving a solo saxophone performance. His genres include (in his words, presumably) “sophisticated tone poems, genre-bending improvisation and cathedral-like divine reverberence [a word that Boyce seems to have coined for himself!].” The venue is located at 1801 Green Street, between Laguna Street and Octavia Street. As usual, there will be no charge for admission.

Saturday, June 28, 7 p.m., The Lab: This is a recent addition to the schedule that did not show up in the announcement released at the end of last month. Aine Nakamura will give a performance with physical manipulation of audio tape gear. There will be a duo performance with Kanoko Nishi-Smith and a collaborative work with Hyeyung Sol Yoon. For those that do not yet know, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street. Doors open half an hour in advance of the performance.

Monday, June 30, 7:30 p.m., Artists' Television Access: Some readers may know about this organization through its connection with The Lab. It is also located in the Mission presenting its own performances.This one will involve the improvisational trio Rewards Program, whose members are Miles Lassi, Zekarias Thompson, and Skyway Man. They will provide live-scored accompaniment to expanded cinema and slide projections created by Ellie Vanderlip. The venue is located in the Mission at 992 Valencia Street on the northwest corner of 21st Street.

SFO: Mozart’s Music Saves the Day … Again

Yesterday afternoon’s return to the War Memorial Opera House for a second encounter with the San Francisco Opera (SFO) production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 366 opera Idomeneo did not fare much better than opening night. Once again, the curtain opened on Ilia in Crete following the defeat of King Priam in the Trojan War. From the very first notes sung by soprano Ying Fang, I felt I was experiencing the rise of the next vocalist worthy of undivided attention. The combination of that technique and her dramatic skills made her the most satisfying point of focus. (Even Elettra’s mad scene, sung by soprano Elza van den Heever towards the end of the opera, never rose to Fang’s level of commitment sustained through the opera’s three acts.)

Sadly, Director Lindy Hume seemed more occupied with rearranging chairs on the stage than on developing the personalities between the five leading characters in the plot. It was almost as if the rash promise made by the title character that then required him to execute his son had almost no relevance. When the chairs were not being rearranged, most of them were occupied, as expected, by the chorus. John Keene’s direction prepared them to deliver impeccable balance, even when they had to contend with Hume’s overly-busy staging.

SFO Conductor Eun Sun Kim (photograph by Cody Pickens, courtesy of SFO)

As I previously observed, Eun Sun Kim’s conducting was right up there with Keene’s preparations. Fortunately, my seat provided a first-rate view of the orchestra pit; and watching Kim at work was, more often than not, far more engaging than the tedious comings-and-goings of Hume’s staging. For that matter, I had a first rate view of the continuo performers for the recitatives, harpsichordist Bryndon Hassman and Jungin Yang on cello. These provided some compensation for the many annoyances wrought by Hume, but not enough to overcome the tedium of the full experience.

Dynamite Guitars: 2025–2026 Season

Those that visit the home page for the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts will see that the 2025–2026 schedule for the Dynamite Guitars concert season has now been finalized. Twelve programs have been planned for this season (two fewer that were presented during the last season). As in the past, the five recitals in the San Francisco Performances (SFP) Guitar Series will be included in Dynamite Guitars. In addition, the final recital will be hosted by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM).

All of the programs will be evening recitals beginning at 7:30 p.m. They will take place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street), Herbst Theatre (on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue), the Taube Atrium Theatre (on the top floor of the Veterans building) and at the SFCM Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall at 50 Oak Street. Programs have not yet been finalized, but the participating performers will be as follows:

Meng Su giving a solo performance (from the current Omni Foundation home page)

Saturday, October 18, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Meng Su has previously appeared as a member of the Beijing Guitar Duo. She is now on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her first solo performance will be the first recital shared with SFP.

Saturday, November 8, Herbst Theatre: The return of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will see a new member. Douglas Lora of the Brazil Guitar Duo will now join the quartet. This will be the second recital shared with SFP.

Saturday, November 22, Herbst Theatre: The Romeros is also a guitar quartet, and their return will be the third recital shared with SFP.

Saturday, January 17, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Dynamite Guitars presented the debut of guitarist Julia Trintschuk. Her performances can also be found on YouTube. For her return recital, she will be joined by her teacher, Joaquín Clerch.

Saturday, January 31, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Leonela Alejandro will make her San Francisco debut, after having won the Rose Augustine Grand Prize at the 2024 Guitar Foundation of America Competition.

Saturday, February 21, Herbst Theatre: The annual program of four guitarists with a diversity of genres will now be taken by the 25th anniversary North American Tour of International Guitar Night; the participating guitarists will be Stephanie Jones, Taimane, Lucas Imbiriba, and Alexandr Miske.

Saturday, February 28, Herbst Theatre: Brazilian brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad will return for the latest performance of classical guitar duos.

Saturday, March 14, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: David Russell was one of the first guitarist I encountered when I began my writing gig. He keeps returning, and I keep following up on his work! He recently recorded all of the lute suites composed by Johann Sebastian Bach for the Omni YouTube channel.

Saturday, March 28, Taube Atrium Theatre: Two guitarists last seen in 2023 will return to share solo performances. JIJI made her San Francisco debut under the joint auspices of SFP and Omni in March of that year. About a month later, Jason Vieux returned for a similar joint presentation. (At that time he was the SFP Guitarist-in-Residence.)

Friday, April 10, Herbst Theatre: Yamandu Costa, who plays a seven-string instrument, will return for his next solo recital.

Saturday, April 11, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Brazilian guitar virtuoso Alessandro Penezzi will give a duo performance with Mike Marshall on mandolin; this promises to be an evening of choro, samba, and improvisation.

Friday, April 24, Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: The season will conclude with a performance of two of Europe’s most commanding guitarists. The A to Z Guitar Duo is named for Aniello Desiderio and Zoran Dukić. Both of these guitarists have had their performances recorded for YouTube videos. The Dukić recital was streamed through successive videos on the YouTube channel during the first half of 2023. Desiderio, on the other hand, performed with his violinists brother Gennaro for a performance of the theme music that John Williams composed for Stephen Spielberg’s movie Schindler’s List in a video released in April of 2025.

Celebrating Music Made in the Lower Register

Yesterday afternoon the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library celebrated Make Music Day by inviting two members of the San Francisco Symphony to perform in the Atrium space. The performers were Assistant Principal Cello Amos Yang (holding the Urbanek Chair) and Charles Chandler on bass. Yang began the program with the prelude to Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1012, the last of his six suites for solo cello composed in the key of D major. He was then joined by Chandler for duo performances during the remainder of the program.

Charles Chandler and Amos Yang playing Shinji Eshima’s “Bariolage” (from a San Francisco Symphony video stream presented by SFSymphony+ during the 2021 pandemic)

This included more Bach, the opening Sinfonia movement from the BWV 156 cantata, Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe (I stand with one foot in the grave), a three-movement duo for cello and bass by Gioachino Rossini, and “Bariolage,” composed for the two musicians by Shinji Eshima. Some readers may recall that this latter piece was given a streamed performance by Yang and Chandler during the SFSymphony+ performances streamed during the pandemic. The program also included a three-movement work by Jean-Baptiste Barrière, who composed four books of sonatas for cello and bass continuo. Spoken introductions and comments were kept brief to allow most of the time for the music itself.

The Atrium is a busy place, and there was no shortage of activity during the performance. Nevertheless, both musicians were consistently focused on their performance practices. The same could be said for most of those that had either occupied the seats that had be set out or simply passed by and began to take notice. Mind you, the Library does have an auditorium space; but there was much to be said for this more “public” offering, allowing the performers to be “discovered” and encouraging all to “stop and listen” for as long as they chose.

Chanticleer Announces 48th Bay Area Season

Chanticleer did not waste any time in announcing its 48th season of four programs. I first heard from them almost exactly a month ago. (I did not announce the 47th season until the beginning of August.) Subscriptions for the new season first became available at the end of May, and single tickets will go on sale at the beginning of next month. As was the case last season, a Web page has been created for subscription purposes, which includes not only the entire season but also reduced subscriptions for either three or two of the programs. Single tickets will be available for purchase through City Box Office beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1. Program details have not yet been finalized, but currently available information for performances in San Francisco is as follows:

Sunday, September 28, 2 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall (50 Oak Street): The title of the first program will be Our American Journey. It will celebrate America’s 250th year of independence by showcasing the diverse voices, songs, harmonies, and rhythms of our shared musical heritage. A commissioned work by Trevor Watson will demonstrate the link between traditional American hymnody and African American spirituals. The repertoire will also include Black gospel quartets, shape-note singing, barbershop quartets, bluegrass tunes, and vocal jazz. There will also be folk songs such as “Calling my Children Home” and “Shenandoah,” as well as Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” and “Home” from The Wiz.

Sunday, December 21, 8 p.m., St. Ignatius Church (650 Parker Avenue): A Chanticleer Christmas will follow the usual tour of the Bay Area (and extending to Sacramento for the first time), with one performance in San Francisco. As usual, the program will present a vision of joy and transcendence through beautifully sung music of all centuries, beginning with a candlelit chant procession. Also as usual, the conclusion will be one of an upbeat gospel celebration. Selections will reflect on those initially planned by founder Louis Botto.

Saturday, March 28, 2 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: September’s “American Journey” will be followed by a journey through San Francisco. Appropriately enough, the title of the concert will be I Left My Heart in San Francisco. The program will present works by Bay Area composers past and present, echoing the spirituals of resilience, the jazz of revolution, the folk songs of protest, and the contemporary sounds that continue to shape the cultural landscape.

Poster design for American Early Music showing the notation used at that time

Sunday, June 7, 5 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (1111 O’Farrell Street): The title of the final program will be American Early Music. I have to confess that one of my favorite books is Gilbert Chase’s America’s Music, which I have in its second revised edition. His subtitle was “From the Pilgrims to the Present;” and his account of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a real page-turner. The program will present polyphony, hymns, folk traditions, and spirituals; and it promises to be an engaging journey of discovery for many in the audience.

SFCMP: 2nd Round of “Emerging Composers”

Last night in Herbst Theatre the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) presented the second of two concerts based on the results of this year’s Emerging Composer Grant Program. Once again, the efforts of three of the Program’s composers were presented, all given world premiere performances. The composers and their selected works were, in “order of appearance,” as follows:

1. Gabriel Duarte DaSilva: Färgstark
2. Sofia Jen Ouyang: Burst
3. Angel Gómez Ramos: Synecdoche (Bulerías del Sentimiento Oceánico)

The selections were again performed by SFCMP musicians led by Artistic Director & Conductor Eric Dudley.

The program book identified Duarte as “one of the most prolific young Brazilian composers of his generation.” “Prolific” seemed to involve going beyond the geography of his youth, since “färgstark” is a Swedish adjective. A Google search turns up the following provided by AI Overview: “It can be used both literally to describe something with bright colors, and figuratively to describe something or someone as lively, interesting, or full of character.” That text is accompanied by an image suggesting Ingmar Bergman on a bad acid trip:

From a musical point of view, Duarte’s composition had less to do with Bergman and more in the spirit of Charles Ives. As in A Symphony: New England Holidays and much of the fourth symphony, the score is rich with an engaging diversity of sonorities. However, while Ives was often brooding, Duarte was more spirited, if not downright aggressive in some of his gestures. If “Färgstark” were to be given a title in English, then “A Young Rebel’s Guide to the Orchestra” might fit the bill.

The program note for “Burst” begins as follows: “A single being, angsty, existential, bursts into existence, and encounters the other–the collective that gradually awakens, reacts, and eventually, overpowers.” Ironically, the “single being” is a solo viola with relatively straightforward rhetoric. The “bursting” would come later as the many distinct individual voices in the ensemble encountered each other. I am not sure I would call the result “overpowering;” but it was a wildly energetic ride worth taking.

The definition of “synecdoche” was overlooked in the program book. To quote (rather than paraphrase) from its Wikipedia entry, “it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole.” Quite honestly, I am not quite sure how that definition was reflected by the music. What was particularly evident, however, was how, in the wake of the opening outbursts, there was a prevalent sense of reverberation across the ensemble that sustained for the duration of the performance. This is a device often encountered in electronic music, but in the setting of an instrumental ensemble it was downright spooky!

In summary, over the course of two evenings I have encountered six young composers on the rise, and I look forward to seeing where subsequent elevation will take them!

Lamplighters Sets Sail for New Season on Pinafore

Queen Victoria ruling the waves on which the H.M.S. Pinafore sails

The Lamplighters Music Theatre has created a Web page for its 2025–26 season; but, as of this writing, only one production has been listed. The work to be performed will be H.M.S. Pinafore. While this was not the first collaboration of composer Arthur Sullivan setting witty texts by W. S. Gilbert, it was their first major success, first presented in 1878. The plot amounts to a confrontation between “stalwart British tars” that “sail the ocean blue” and dimwitted “titled” aristocracy. The latter is best personified by Sir Joseph Porter, who sings the biographical ditty “When I was a lad.”

There will be three performances of this production in San Francisco. The run time will be one hour and 50 minutes, including a twenty-minute intermission. There will be given two matinee performances at 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 16, and Sunday, August 17, with an evening performance at 8 p.m. on Saturday. The venue will be the Blue Shield of California Theater at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which is located at 700 Howard Street on the northwest corner of Third Street. Ticket prices range from $75 to $95 with a $10 discount for seniors and groups of ten or more. There is also a $35 rate for children, students, and educators. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through City Box Office event pages. Each performance has a separate Web page, which may be reached through the hyperlinks attached to the above dates. As of this writing, there appears to be no information about subscription rates.

Benjamin Appl’s Tribute to Fischer-Dieskau

 

Cover of the album being discussed 

Readers may recall that when I announced the San Francisco Performances (SFP) 2025–2026 Art of Song series, the second program would present the return of baritone Benjamin Appl. That program was planned to celebrate the centenary of the birth of baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; and today saw the release of Appl’s latest album, whose full title is For Dieter: Hommage à Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Appl is definitely well-equipped to honor the Fischer-Dieskau legacy. In his own words: “In 2009, I applied for his master class at the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg which was the start of a long and transformative relationship. I was fortunate to work with him on my entire repertoire over countless hours in his homes in Berlin and Berg.”

It was only about three months ago that I last wrote about Appl. After listening to (and writing about) his SFP recital with pianist James Baillieu in May of 2023, I wrote about the release of his album Forbidden Fruit, on which he was also accompanied by Baillieu. This was followed by the Lines of Life album, an imaginative alternation of songs by Franz Schubert with those of György Kurtág. Now For Dieter has been released to prepare listeners for his next visit to Herbst Theatre this coming October.

Appl has tried to take a “biographical” approach in preparing this new album. Once again, he is accompanied by Baillieu for a generous share of 32 tracks. These are divided into what may best be called fifteen “episodes” with the following titles:

1. Prologue
2. Childhood in Berlin
3. Teenage Years and First Steps as a Singer
4. A Soldier in War 1943–1945
5. A Prisoner of War 1945–1947
6. Returning Home in 1947
7. Birth of Three Songs
8. Song Accompanists and Friends
9. The Bitter Loss of Irmel, his First Wife in 1963
10. Death of his Mother Theodora in 1966
11. Marital Life
12. Commissions and World Premieres
13. Teaching and Personal Experiences
14. Farewell to Stage
15. Epilogue

My only personal attachment to these categories comes with the world premiere recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. I have to confess that my strongest memory of Fischer-Dieskau involved his wrestling with the English texts of Wilfred Owen. However, if there were shortcomings in the “letter” of his pronunciations, there was no questioning the spirit that he brought to his performance!

In that context I can say with more than a little confidence that, where both music and texts are concerned, Appl delivers a solid command of both letter and spirit. My only real quibble is that Appl sang the War Requiem except in German, rather than in the original English. Given that his English command of the three songs by Samuel Barber that followed this track, I was more than a little puzzled by his approach to Britten!

Mind you, the entire album lasts for 79 minutes. I suspect that, if Appl will bring this entire program to SFP, then I hope he will find a suitable episode in the journey that will allow for an intermission! I also assume that, as has usually been the case for Art of Song programs, SFP will provide a text booklet for the audience, however, generous that document may be. In any case, I was quite satisfied with Appl’s approach to recital-as-biography; and I anticipate that SFP audiences will be equally impressed.

Jazz Guitarist Pasquale Grasso Goes Solo

About three years ago, I had the pleasure of writing about an album by jazz guitarist Pasquale Grasso entitled Be-Bop! Since my preference for that genre borders on the fanatical, writing that article was a sheer delight. On that album Grasso led a trio, whose other members are Ari Roland on bass and Keith Balla on drums along with a “guest appearance” by vocalist Samara Joy.

Cover of the new album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

This morning I learned that Sony Music Masterworks had released a new Grasso album this past Friday. This one was entitled Solo Be-Bop!, and it goes without saying that Grasso was the soloist.The twelve tracks provide a survey of the be-bop genre that is as informative as it is engaging. Ironically, only two of the composers are allocated more than one track. There are three selections by Bud Powell: “Time Waits,” “Monopoly,” and “Yeheadeadeadee.” (Ironically, “Time Waits” was the only one already in my collection!) Elmo Hope, on the other hand, accounts for two tracks, “Stars Over Marakesh” and “Happy Hour;” and I must confess that my only previous encounter with Hope was in The Complete Prestige Recordings box set of Sonny Rollins!

That said, I found myself more focused on Grasso’s solo tracks than I had been on his earlier Be-Bop! album. This should not be surprising. If there is only one instrument, there is only one “target for attention,” even if it has a capacity for polyphony. I am also willing to confess that there is still more for me to learn about the be-bop genre than I had previously thought! While he is not a contemporary of the be-bop masters, Grasso is definitely a first-rate guide for those in the present to appreciate the virtues of this genre that is now “vintage.”

Music for the Summer Solstice at Grace

Poster design prepared for the concert being discussed, showing both Ronny Michael Greenberg and Leah Crocetto

It seems, somewhat to my embarrassment, that I have not been in touch with performances by pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg and soprano Leah Crocetto since they performed at Flower Piano in 2023. Fortunately, I heard from Greenberg almost exactly 24 hours ago; and it turns out that they will be presenting a program tomorrow evening at Grace Cathedral. The full title of the program will be TILT: A Celebration of Light and Music on the Summer Solstice. Instrumental accompaniment will be provided by the Wobbly World band, which will also give a pre-show performance of Cuban and Mediterranean music.

The program itself will be a diverse one. Crocetto will present her operatic talents with performances of “Casta Diva” from Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma and “Song to the Moon,” sung by the title character in the first act of Antonín Dvořák’s three-act Rusalka. She will also sing the less familiar “Caruso,” a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso composed by Lucio Dalla in 1986. In addition there will be a new song on the program, jointly composed by Crocetto and Greenberg.

Of particularly local interest, Grace Cathedral was the venue of the first performance of Duke Ellington’s Concert of Sacred Music, which took place on September 16, 1965. This would be the first of three Sacred Concerts, composed by Ellington and first performed in 1965, 1968, and 1973, respectively. Crocetto will sing a selection of Ellington songs; and, while specifics have not yet been finalized, it is likely that she will draw upon songs that Ellington had performed at Grace.

For those that do not already know, Grace Cathedral is located in Nob Hill at 1100 California Street. The entrance is on the west side of Taylor Street, just above the corner of California. General admission at 7:30 p.m. for one guest over 30 will be $105, and those under 30 will be admitted for $55. There will also be reserved seating for early admission at 6:30 p.m. for $250. Finally, there will also be early admission for Sponsors bringing guests. There will be four tiers based on the number of guests: two ($800), six ($2500), twelve ($4000), and 24 ($6000). Those bringing parties of twelve or more will receiver verbal acknowledgement during the concert.

SFCMP: First Round of “Emerging Composers”

Daniel Cui, whose “Nanjing Fragments” concluded last night’s concert

Last night in Herbst Theatre the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) presented the first of two concerts based on the results of this year’s Emerging Composer Grant Program. This consisted of world premiere performances by three of the Program’s composers. In “order of appearance,” the composers and their selected works were as follows:

1. Luca Robadey: Stained Glass
2. Laura Cetilia: unless
3. Daniel Cui: Nanjing Fragments

The selections were all performed by SFCMP musicians led by Artistic Director & Conductor Eric Dudley.

“First contact” experiences are often difficult, since the attentive listener tends to require time to adjust to the context. As a result, it is a bit unfair to account for “brand new works by brand new composers” with little preparatory context. Since the entire program was only an hour in duration, the experience became one of the emergence of first impressions. How enduring those impressions will be can only determined by future performances of the selections themselves.

I have to confess that I found “Stained Glass” to be at least a bit ironic. Robadey delivered a solid command of music for percussion, much of which tended to suggest the glass being broken. I found myself noting in my program that the quality of his rhetoric was more organic than optical. “Stained Glass” was followed by Cetilia’s “unless.” Those familiar with the music of Morton Feldman would probably have detected his influence. However, while Cetilia seems to have captured Feldman’s sense of extended time, her own effort took too long to go nowhere. The final selection was Cui’s “Nanjing Fragments.” He introduced the piece as having three separate movements, but I fear I was never able to parse that structure on a first listening experience. I was more impressed by his command of the full ensemble, even if the harp could never rise to an audible range in the face of a rich brass section.

Whatever impressions may have been experienced, these selections constituted some significant first steps, and what remains to be seen is where those steps will lead!